Bluff
Use Bluff to successfully lie or convince others of falsehoods, or to disguise yourself. Check Example Circumstances Insight Modifier The target wants to believe you. -5 The bluff is believable and doesn’t affect the target much. +0 The bluff is a little hard to believe or puts the target at some risk. +5 The bluff is hard to believe or puts the target at significant risk. +10 The bluff is way out there, almost too incredible to consider. +20 A Bluff check is opposed by the target’s Insight check. See the accompanying table for examples of different kinds of bluffs and the modifier to the target’s Insight check for each one. Favorable and unfavorable circumstances weigh heavily on the outcome of a bluff. Two circumstances can weigh against you: The bluff is hard to believe, or the action that the target is asked to take goes against its self-interest, nature, personality, orders, or the like. If it’s important, you can distinguish between a bluff that fails because the target doesn’t believe it and one that fails because it just asks too much of the target. For instance, if the target gets a +10 bonus on its Inisght check because the bluff demands something risky, and the Insight check succeeds by 10 or less, then the target didn’t so much see through the bluff as prove reluctant to go along with it. A target that succeeds by 11 or more has seen through the bluff. A successful Bluff check indicates that the target reacts as you wish, at least for a short time (usually 1 round or less) or believes something that you want it to believe. Bluff, however, is not a suggestion spell. A bluff requires interaction between you and the target. Creatures unaware of you cannot be bluffed. Feinting in Combat You can also use Bluff to mislead an opponent in melee combat (so that it can’t dodge your next attack effectively). To feint, make a Bluff check opposed by your target’s Insight check, but in this case, the target may add its base attack bonus to the roll along with any other applicable modifiers. If your Bluff check result exceeds this special Insight check result, your target is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) for the next melee attack you make against it. This attack must be made on or before your next turn. Feinting in this way against a nonhumanoid is difficult because it’s harder to read a strange creature’s body language; you take a -4 penalty on your Bluff check. Against a creature of animal Intelligence (1 or 2) it’s even harder; you take a -8 penalty. Against a nonintelligent creature, it’s impossible. Feinting in combat does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Creating a Diversion to use Stealth You can use the Bluff skill to help you use Stealth. A successful Bluff check gives you the momentary diversion you need to attempt a Stealth check while people are aware of you. This usage does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Delivering a Secret Message You can use Bluff to get a message across to another character without others understanding it. The DC is 15 for simple messages, or 20 for complex messages, especially those that rely on getting across new information. Failure by 4 or less means you can’t get the message across. Failure by 5 or more means that some false information has been implied or inferred. Anyone listening to the exchange can make an Insight check opposed by the Bluff check you made to transmit in order to intercept your message. Disguise Disguise Bluff Check Modifier Minor details only +5 Disguised as different gender1 -2 Disguised as different race1 -2 Disguised as different age category1 -22 These modifiers are cumulative; use any that apply. Per step of difference between your actual age category and your disguised age category. The steps are: young (younger than adulthood), adulthood, middle age, old, and venerable. Your Bluff check result determines how good a disguise is, and it is opposed by others' Perception check results. If you don’t draw any attention to yourself, others do not get to make Perception checks. If you come to the attention of people who are suspicious (such as a guard who is watching commoners walking through a city gate), it can be assumed that such observers are taking 10 on their Perception checks. You get only one Bluff check per use of the skill, even if several people are making Perception checks against it. The Bluff check is made secretly, so that you can’t be sure how good the result is. Familiarity Viewer’s Perception Check Bonus Recognizes on sight +4 Friends or associates +6 Close friends +8 Intimate +10 The effectiveness of your disguise depends in part on how much you’re attempting to change your appearance. If you are impersonating a particular individual, those who know what that person looks like get a bonus on their Perception checks according to the table below. Furthermore, they are automatically considered to be suspicious of you, so opposed checks are always called for. Usually, an individual makes a Perception check to see through your disguise immediately upon meeting you and each hour thereafter. If you casually meet many different creatures, each for a short time, check once per day or hour, using an average Spot modifier for the group. Action Varies. A Bluff check made as part of general interaction always takes at least 1 round (and is at least a full-round action), but it can take much longer if you try something elaborate. A Bluff check made to feint in combat or create a diversion to hide is a standard action. A Bluff check made to deliver a secret message doesn’t take an action; it is part of normal communication. Creating a disguise requires 1d3×10 minutes of work. Try Again Varies. Generally, a failed Bluff check in social interaction makes the target too suspicious for you to try again in the same circumstances, but you may retry freely on Bluff checks made to feint in combat. Retries are also allowed when you are trying to send a message, but you may attempt such a retry only once per round. Each retry carries the same chance of miscommunication. You may try to redo a failed disguise, but once others know that a disguise was attempted, they’ll be more suspicious. Special A ranger gains a bonus on Bluff checks when using this skill against a favored enemy. The master of a snake familiar gains a +3 bonus on Bluff checks. Magic that alters your form, such as alter self, disguise self, polymorph, or shapechange, grants you a +10 bonus on Bluff checks (see the individual spell descriptions). You must succeed on a Bluff check with a +10 bonus to duplicate the appearance of a specific individual using the veil spell. Divination magic that allows people to see through illusions (such as true seeing) does not penetrate a mundane disguise, but it can negate the magical component of a magically enhanced one. You must make a Bluff check when you cast a simulacrum spell to determine how good the likeness is. Category:Skills